THE SILLY SEASON IS IN FULL SWING

It seems other sports felt left out, so they're getting involved, too.

College football
Iowa (Annie-O's favorite team) lost it's bid to the 'Final Four' and it's undefeated season in a loss to Michigan State. Stanford won big so Janice Hough should be very happy.
So now it's up to the selection committee to irritate at least three teams by not including them in the playoffs. The other Bowl game participants should be announced in a few days , too. That's when I go to work.
The It's-Just-Wrong Dept
Color man description: "He's got to go vertical there."  Translation: He should have passed.

College Basketball
Syracuse lost big. Sure, the scoreboard said 79-72, but the Orange were out of it after 4 minutes. Every game, their outside shooting gets worse and worse. I think they called two timeouts to see if the balls were over-inflated. Unfortunately, they weren't.
Michigan State beat up on little Binghamton College, a small school in the southern tier of New York State. The final score was 76-33. I think MSU played two coaches and a fan for the final 10 minutes.
Louisville 111, Grand Canyon 63. Grand Canyon's defense was so bad, Louisville scored 6 points before the opening tip. The final score was this close only because three Cardinals changed uniforms to play for the Antelopes in the 2nd half. Is Louisville's home court really called KFC YUM! Center? Come on. Are the two locker rooms called 'Wings' and 'Thighs?'
It's-Just-Wrong Dept. 
"He sang the nylon song."  Trans: He scored.

Baseball
The 'One Dumb Owner' ranks are swelling. The SF Giants have signed Jeff Samardzija for 5 years at $90 million per year. Jeff's not completely pleased since he didn't reach the $100 million mark.The San Fran newspapers can't be too happy either. No matter how they spell Jeff's last name, it will still look misspelled.
We have a winner. If you thought David Price's $31 million per year was outrageous, check this out. Zack Greinke (32 yrs old) will be paid $34.3 million for 6 years. Since he averages 32 starts a year, it means he will make more than one million dollars every time he starts a game. That's about $11,000 per pitch.
Okay, who's next?

Buster Olney has finished his ranking of the top ten players at each position (all MBL), based on input from players and evaluators.  Catcher evaluations include all aspects of catching (including preparation) and hitting. The Yanks Brian McCann was ranked #9. Interestingly enough, Toronto's Russell Martin (former Yank) was #3 and Francisco Cervelli (again, a former Yank) was #4. Maybe 'interesting' isn't the right word.

Pro Football
It's Sunday and pro football day around the country where we watch some 1200 athletes try to avoid a concussion. Which reminds me of one suggestion I read a while ago about how to avoid serious injuries on the field: Make it illegal to wear helmets. Obviously, it will never happen, but think about it.

I don't often say this [although Annie-O says I should], but I was wrong about Dickson's "Bottom Ten" being over with. A computer glitch prevented me from seeing it.
1. UCF (0-12): Any player who signs a letter of intent with UCF must undergo concussion protocol.
3. Eastern Michigan (1-11): Midway through this season the Eastern Michigan Eagle mascot flew south for the winter.
5. North Texas (1-11): I’m trying to confirm the North Texas quarterback missed the last game after phoning in and claiming he had a dentist appointment.
The Syracuse football team earned Honorable Mention this week.
Next week: The final standings

***THEY SAID IT***
"Wednesday night, an 8-year-old boy heading to a CenturyLink Center restroom at halftime was invited to join the Creighton basketball huddle. Heck, with the typical lines for CenturyLink Center restrooms, he had time to play the second half."  -- Brad Dickson
"To honor Steve Nash’s induction into the Phoenix Suns’ Ring of Honor, Suns players wore socks with Steve Nash’s face on them. Can’t wait to see what the Red Sox come up with for Curt Schilling Induction Day"  -- Dwight Perry
"NFL’s cunning plan of removing one Brady target per week until he has no one left to throw to finally pays off"  -- Fark,com
"Kobe Bryant has announced that he will retire after this season. I wonder how much collectors will pay for his last “air ball”  -- TC Chong
"Zack Greinke signed a 6 year, $206 million deal with the…. Arizona Diamondbacks? Well, maybe Greinke figured he would do better without all that post-season pressure."  -- Janice Hough
"Timofey Mozgov, the Cavaliers’ Russian center, shot 0 for 3 in his only scoreless outing of the season against the Wizards last Tuesday.In other words, nothing but nyet."  -- Dwight Perry
" Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel was demoted to third string after a “party video” of him surfaced on YouTube. My reaction: good thing there was no YouTube when Paul Hornung, Joe Namath and Jim McMahon played."  -- Brad Dickson
"Outfielder Nori Aoki says he signed with the Mariners to win a World Series. That’s like going to the moon for water."  -- Chris Hill via facebook
"BBC News reports Bertie has fought off all challengers to earn the title of world’s fastest tortoise. Anyone else just think of the NFC East?" -- RJ Currie

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